Why is Hyperliquid’s airdrop so successful?
Since the release of a large-scale $1.5 billion airdrop in Q4 2024 (2025/02/07), Hyperliquid has remained the focus of market discussion. Many analysts and investors have hailed it as a “rare golden airdrop” in recent years, and some even believe it may be the “last golden airdrop”.
However, at the same time, the success of Hyperliquid is not achieved simply by giving away a large amount of tokens; it combines a high-performance public chain with a decentralized exchange, a rigorous token distribution mechanism, and a long-term vision for the continuous development of the community, which has led to this legendary event.
This article will analyze the key factors behind the success of the Hyperliquid airdrop from three perspectives: specific numbers, mechanism principles, and market cases.
The “golden effect” of the first airdrop
31% generosity: numbers and returns
In Q4 2024, Hyperliquid officially announced the first round of airdrops, distributing 31% of the total token supply (approximately 310 million HYPE). According to official data, a total of 94,028 wallets participated, with an average of approximately 2,915.66 HYPE tokens per address; the median was 64.53 tokens.
On the day the airdrop was launched, the initial price of HYPE tokens was around $2-3. After the secondary market opened, many users found that the price quickly rose above $10 and even $20, peaking at over $32 at one point. As a result, some early high-volume users achieved returns of $100,000 to $200,000 or even higher, setting multiple records of seven-figure profits.
On the same day, the platform’s 24-hour trading volume surged to $270 million, indicating a strong market response to the airdrop.
Strict witch prevention and targeting real users
Before the airdrop was officially claimed (around November 27, 2024), Hyperliquid conducted extensive detection to identify a large number of so-called “witch behaviors” attempting to manipulate scores through multiple fake addresses, and significantly reduced (or even cleared) the final airdrop ratio for these addresses.
This ensures that the airdrop truly reaches active users with real trading volume and successfully creates a high-quality and loyal early community, reducing token dumping in the initial stage.
Word-of-mouth self-fermentation: from user profits to ecosystem expansion
The wealth effect:
Due to the significant number of tokens in the airdrop, combined with the skyrocketing token price, many users “got rich overnight,” creating a strong “airdrop culture” within the community. People have been sharing their experiences, attracting more people to trade and stake on the platform.
NFT and the secondary market:
The official also revealed that some top users will receive HYPE NFTs. Although the issuance time and mechanism have not been fully disclosed, there are rumors that the estimated trading price in the secondary market could exceed $40,000, further increasing community expectations.
The hidden driving force of Hyperliquid’s product strength
1. High-performance L1 public chain + decentralized perpetual contract DEX
Hyperliquid has its own self-developed L1 public chain, which uses the HyperBFT consensus mechanism and has demonstrated a transaction per second (TPS) of 200,000 and final confirmation within 0.2 seconds since the end of 2024, rivaling or even surpassing the performance of some centralized exchanges.
Multiple integration:
The platform supports perpetual contract trading, staking, Vaults, NFT minting, and other multiple functions, allowing users to complete most of their trading needs within a decentralized but high-performance ecosystem.
2. Flexible extension applications: EVM, staking, and ecosystem
Although the Hyperliquid EVM mainnet and specific features (such as refined staking rewards) have not been fully released before and after the airdrop, the official’s multiple roadmap updates have been sufficient to create high market expectations for future scalability and ecosystem development.
Continuous launch of new features:
Within a few months after the airdrop, Hyperliquid has successively launched more trading pairs, liquidity mining incentive programs, etc., stabilizing the platform’s trading volume and capital inflows.
Community construction:
With the gradual improvement of the smart contract execution environment, more decentralized applications (DApps) and protocols are starting to be deployed on Hyperliquid, creating a positive feedback loop.
The last golden airdrop?
1. Possibility of second and third quarter airdrops
Since Hyperliquid distributed 31% of its tokens in the airdrop, there is still a huge token supply of 38.88% reserved for future community rewards, in addition to 23% allocated to core contributors. The general perception is that if the platform continues to cultivate the market through airdrops or rewards after 2025, it may create another wave of “golden airdrops”.
Some commentators believe that as the market matures, the logic of Hyperliquid’s future airdrops may become more stringent or take different forms (such as liquidity mining, project incubation rewards) rather than a large-scale one-time distribution of tokens. The community is both excited and cautious about this.
2. The intertwining of wealth creation and market conditions
According to statistics released in January 2025, within six weeks after the Hyperliquid airdrop, the HYPE token price surged from $2 to $32, giving the platform a chance to approach the market capitalization of some established public chains.
The token price has recently fluctuated between $20 and $25, and there have been “negative news” questioning whether Hyperliquid is overvalued. However, most supporters still have confidence in the platform’s long-term development and expect that if NFTs and ecosystem DApps continue to grow, the token price still has room to rise.
Key to success: meticulous design and long-term value
Image /https://x.com/threesigmaxyz/status/1882425456059642233
Large-scale and well-designed token distribution:
Although a 31% airdrop is generous, it is coupled with rigorous witch detection and the requirement for “real trading volume,” guaranteeing high-quality recipients and suppressing short-term dumping.
Powerful product strength and technical support:
With a high-performance public chain, fast matching, and decentralized perpetual contract trading functionality, Hyperliquid has a solid foundation to support a large number of users and capital flow.
Community value and word-of-mouth effect:
As the airdrop did bring substantial profits to a large number of users, the community grew spontaneously, creating a so-called “golden airdrop” reputation. The support of NFTs, liquidity mining, and other activities has injected continuous excitement into the ecosystem.
Future expectations:
Diverse forms of reward schemes: Although Hyperliquid has not officially announced the form of future airdrops, the reserved token supply of 38.88% and the allocation to core contributors are still sufficient to indicate that the platform will continue to incentivize users and developers through various reward mechanisms in the next 1-2 years, maintaining the prosperity of the ecosystem.
Conclusion
The reason why Hyperliquid’s airdrop has caused such a big response in the cryptocurrency market is not only because they “gave away a lot of tokens”, but more importantly:
– By combining a high-performance decentralized exchange with an L1 public chain, it truly brings users a fast trading experience comparable to centralized platforms.
– It incentivizes early users with a significant number of tokens and ensures that the airdrop reaches genuine active communities through strict screening, leading to strong word-of-mouth promotion.
– The large reserved token supply and the actively developing ecosystem provide significant room for imagination in the future.
Even though some perspectives believe that Hyperliquid may be the “last golden airdrop,” considering the characteristics of the cryptocurrency market, new innovative models will continue to emerge.
A truly beneficial airdrop must ultimately combine high-quality product strength with a complete ecosystem development, and Hyperliquid has undoubtedly delivered an outstanding performance in these two aspects, setting a high standard for future projects.